Reporters Charged With Defamation Remanded on Bail in Thailand

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21 April 2014

Two journalists were remanded on bail in Thailand on Thursday on charges of criminal defamation and other offenses in connection with a story they published on the trafficking of Muslim minority Rohingya people from Burma. Alan Morison, an Australian, and Thai national Chutima Sidasathian published a story last July for the Phuketwan news website about Rohingya boat people, which contained excerpts from a Reuters Special Report that detailed how some Thai navy personnel worked with people smugglers to profit from the exodus. A criminal court on Phuket ruled the case against the two journalists should proceed and set the first hearing for May 26. —Reuters